24. South Dakota Takes Extreme Measures to Be the Top Anti–Abortion State

South Dakota is taking extreme action against any person who performs an abortion within the state’s borders. The South Dakota House is taking up a bill to redefine “justifiable homicide” that may “make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions,” Mother Jones reports. A bill backed by the GOP could, in theory, allow a woman’s father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion, even if she wanted the procedure. GOP lawmakers at the state and federal level have come up with four other radical abortion restrictions to marginalize women’s rights and eradicate choice. Through such inflexible attachment to pro-life policies, the GOP subordinates the choices and lives of women to a narrow-minded and impracticable philosophy.

In 1994 the state banned abortion providers inside its borders. “Planned Parenthood flies a doctor in from out-of-state once a week to see patients at a Sioux Falls clinic. Women from the more remote parts of the large, rural state drive up to six hours to reach this lone clinic” and must “receive counseling and wait 24 hours before undergoing the procedure.”

Other proposed restrictions include: GOP state lawmakers in Arizona and Ohio unveiled so-called “Heartbeat Bills” to “prohibit women from ending pregnancies at the first detectable fetal heartbeat.” The heartbeat can be heard “within 18 to 24 days of conception” and “in almost all cases by six weeks,” a period in which “many women don’t even know they’re pregnant.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) “fast-tracked” an anti-abortion bill mandating that “pregnant women be shown an ultrasound of the fetus at least two hours before an abortion.” Physicians would have to show the fetus’s dimensions, limbs or internal organs, and — if audible — the fetal heartbeat.”

Arizona GOP Rep. Steve Montenegro introduced bills to criminalize abortions if they’re sought because of race or sex. The bill would charge doctors with a Class 3 felony if they “knowingly perform abortions for these reasons.”

On the federal level, House Republicans took the first two months of the new year to marginalize the rights of women. First, they tried to exclude certain victims — including women who are drugged, women who do not physically fight off the offender, and some minors — from abortion coverage by redefining rape. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) then introduced the “Protect Life Act,” a bill that would “give doctors the green light to let pregnant women die if they have a life-threatening condition and need an emergency abortion.”

Source:

“The Five Ways That The GOP Is Trying To Eradicate A Woman’s Right To Choose,” Tanya Somanader, Think Progress, February 5, 2011. http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/15/five-ways-eradicate-choice/

Student Researcher: Taylor Wright, Sonoma State University

Faculty Evaluator: Don Romesburg , Sonoma State University

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ben

I knew this was just a far-left propaganda website. This proves it. The Constitution guarantees LIFE it is not a left-right issue or a religious issue it is a Constitutional issue. Why is murder acceptable if it is in someones body? Where is the Constitutional right to kill someone if they live inside you? There isn’t one because it is flawed logic. The Constitutional protection is for LIFE liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t think a fetus would be very happy, free or alive after an abortion. Human life is human life no matter at what stage of development or age. This brainwashing that it is a “choice” is just a part of the bigger scheme of eugenics perpetrated on us by our fabulous big-brother. Get a clue people!
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Asdf

But the question is: Is a fetus sentient?
mountainbiker

Helen Keller wasn’t sentient until she was able to communicate with her teacher. Maybe Genesis is correct. God spoke the world into existence?
mountainbiker

I am both against abortion and against forbidding women from having control of their own lives. We have birth control and girls can be educated to use it effectively, when needed. If you want people to refrain from sexual activity until marriage, then you want to prevent much more than abortion. Good luck. Train young people to use birth control, but also tell them how you feel about premarital sex. Now the person is placed in a situation where they have a real decision to make, and neither choice will result in a pregnancy.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DYHIBFDAGIUG3TI4LY6FDDIMCU Rachel

At first I found this website interesting. Now I am assuming that its all liberal crap. Way to undermine any chance for duping conservatives!
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Bagoboxes

How did Helen Keller learn to communicate without sentience and what does that have to do with anything?
Bagoboxes

How did Helen Keller learn to communicate without sentience and what does that have to do with anything?
Scott

Of course it’s liberal you idiots. I mean honestly what did you expect? It’s talking about all the stupid laws against woman who’s choice doesn’t concern you in anyway. So of course it’s go to be against republican’s, who is suggesting these laws? I mean killing a doctor for giving a patient what they want? If you agree with that then I don’t think the people running this site should even want your support, and if they do they’ll lose mine. Just go watch Fox already.
Scott

Of course it’s liberal you idiots. I mean honestly what did you expect? It’s talking about all the stupid laws against woman who’s choice doesn’t concern you in anyway. So of course it’s go to be against republican’s, who is suggesting these laws? I mean killing a doctor for giving a patient what they want? If you agree with that then I don’t think the people running this site should even want your support, and if they do they’ll lose mine. Just go watch Fox already.
Sloane

i find it a little concerning that all the anti abortion/choice comments are all left by men, who are being rather facetious in assuming they should have any say on the medical choices of women they do not even know. However i will also postulate that these men are neither medical doctors, nor have they received adequate education, what a shame it is, the failure of the U.S education system. tisk tisk.
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Mike

why are men anti-abortion, when they’re the ones that never get pregnant? Read about it, hear women’s stories learn why they get that done. No woman wants to have that done, no one celebrates it. and if we outlaw it, expect thousands of backdoor abortions to take place and women bleeding to death in alleyways. A seed is not a tree, a fetus is not a human, got it?

1/2 of Americans are in poverty. We need to be focused on getting people out of poverty so they can become financially stable enough to take care of children, and we need to be feeding the starving children that are already here, instead of adding to the problem by forcing women who don’t want to have kids to have them.

Learn about the history of abortion, its been around for a long time.
Mike

Agreed, I don’t see any pro-lifers adopting children in poverty or caring about the massive amounts of people who’ve died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, or people who die in sweatshops due to inhumane conditions and exposure to toxic chemicals all around the world. They just sit around parading the “right to life” bull without realizing that the situation is much more complex than “life or death” and the decision to have that done isn’t an easy one.
Mike

A woman choosing to not give birth to a child that she can’t take care of is “liberal”? Read about abortions, it’s been around long before liberals and conservatives were even thought of.
Mike

There’s so much Bull behind what you said.

1) A woman can have sex anytime she wants.
There’s nothing wrong with women having sex. Why should a woman be encouraged to abstain from having sex, but men not when we’re the ones getting women pregnant? Premarital sex doesn’t cause abortions, women have them done even if they’re married.

2) A lot of controlling men mess with women’s birth control to keep the women submissive to them by making them have a child. Also, a lot of men force women to have unprotected sex because “it feels better”.

3) You’re completely ignoring the fact that men are involved in the act of sex. We have the responsibility to wear a condom. We need to take steps to ensure that we aren’t reckless with our behavior and make sure that the women we’re with are taking birth control. And if we DO get a woman pregnant, we have the responsibility to be there financially and emotionally for the woman and our child. She didn’t make the child alone.

4) Women can get pregnant when they don’t choose to. They can get drugged or raped. They shouldn’t be forced to have a child under those conditions.

5) There are so many children who starve to death in the world. You, and all other pro-lifers, need to be focused on feeding those mouths and helping those children instead of adding to the problem by forcing women, who know they can’t care for a child, to have one.
Mike

I agree, man.

It’s wrong to kill a fetus, but ok to kill a doctor that has saved more lives than the average person? That doesn’t even make any logical sense. While we’re going through a recession, legislation is passing crap like this that don’t help anyone. They don’t care about children. If they did, they’d be funding education and after school programs instead of this.
Damian

I would argue that, no, it is not likely, and would also ask; Can the fetus, embryo, or any stage of development survive naturally without being connected to the mothers body by the umbilical cord? Or are we all just parasites for the first 9 months of our existence? When do brain waves appear in a fetus? Can there be person hood without brain waves? Does a totally fragile and dependent collection of genetically unique cells really define a legally defensible form of any species? Does the mere ‘potential’ for further development into a viable human, give rights to a parasitic group of cells attached to a mother. Should male humans even be allowed to comment on this subject? Should any religious figure or organization be taken seriously when they NEVER also support birth control and family planning education or techniques. Let’s be brutally honest. This is about POWER. The power of the wealthy, using the fear of religion, to ensure the poverty of over-population and cheap labor costs, to maximize profits. There are too many people!
Joemomma

Any person who is against abortion should go out there and adopt a couple of addicted infants and put their money where their big mouth is! Even some well meaning parents who wanted to have kids, at times end up abusing and neglecting their kids let alone those who will be forced to keep their child against all odds. Abortion is sometimes the kindest end to an unintended pregnancy.
Gotlotsaclues

Sorry Ben, You need to get a few more clues. How long can a two week old ‘fetus’ live without the Oxygen and nutrients provided by the umbilical cord? Does this ‘fetus’ have brain wave activity before 6 weeks? Science has figured out that it does not. Also, if you are so dedicated to preserving life in any form; stop masturbating because every one of those millions of sperms are very much alive, at least until you allow all to die, I hope.
Bringerofblessings

A “justifiable homocide” law would have allowed the murder of George Tiller to be viewed as a heroic act by Scott Roeder. Maybe the laws do need to change and NOT just in SD. When one human can murder another it is heinous, when a so called Dr. can partially deliver late term babies and then murder them; it is evil.
Justifiable homocide would have set Scott Roeder free….
notdeadyet

No where in his comment did he say “only women.”
notdeadyet

No where in his comment did he say “only women.”
notdeadyet

I stand corrected in one part, but mostly he/she just typed “young people.”
http://www.facebook.com/robin.gething Robin Gething

well lets play a game: spot the paradox…..

Pro-life activism adjusting the laws of justifiable homicide… It seems the moment someone is born they are worthless to these people.

Abortion is justifiable homicide. Family planning is not murder, its like calling shopping bribery and theft.

This is why religion needs to stay out of government….get a grip.
Annonymous

Just a few comments about the article and the comments made below.
1st The bill in South Dakota is a self-defense bill. The bill does not apply to any wish the mother may have about aborting the fetus. Thus said the law will not protect anyone who has killed an abortion doctor. The law is to protect mothers who are being attacked and it goes along with other legislation in the state (e.g. if you kill a pregnant woman you are charged with two murders). The law allows family members to defend the pregnant woman when an attack, attack being the key word, is committed against the woman.
2nd I am pro-life and the argument I wish to make is that from conception a new life has begun, a new DNA sequence has been made that is unique to any other being making it important. There is so little that science knows and by aborting we are preventing the possibility of a future. I have a very strong belief that one should not take life.
3rd Less than 1% of all abortions are a result of rape/incest and 44% of those who have had an abortion have had more than one abortion (Waldmen) There have also been many studies done that show psychological damage as a result of abortion (Rachel’s Vineyard is a support group for individuals dealing with psychological/spiritual damage)
Abortion is not an easy choice to make and it should be taken very seriously and putting laws into place that will emphasize the seriousness of the situation might allow patients to make a more informed decision. Finally let me say that no one knows the future and just because someone is born into a bad situation doesn’t mean that their life doesn’t matter. Yes there are many starving children around the world and pro-life individuals don’t wish to undermine them in any way. Instead the wish is to protect the most innocent who can’t protect themselves. Remember don’t drink the Koo laid.
mymomdidn’tkillme

just gonna say this, there are soooooo many people who cannot have children but want them sooooo bad! if a woman decides she cannot take care of the child, give it up for adoption, don’t kill it.
mymomdidn’tkillme

when someone says “murder” they mean “taking the life of another HUMAN being” so your rhetoric is flawed with that last phrase. sperm are not human beings, they are cells that have half of the chromosomes it needs to be “human” they cannot even reproduce to make new sperm cells or to make a human being unless joined with an egg cell(and technically that means that sperm is not even alive). and technically, if brain wave activity is what says that the person is alive(which you implied) and that happens at six weeks which is around the time women finally find out that they are pregnant, than abortion IS murder because a woman won’t even have an abortion before they know they are pregnant.
mymomdidn’tkillme

yes, very much so. my sister and brother-in-law knew the personality my nephew would have a long time before he was born(he has the very personality they expected because of how he acted when he was in the womb) and he actually played with my brother-in-law when he was still in the womb, one of the many games they played was that my brother-in-law would poke a certain spot on my sister’s belly and then my nephew would kick in that very spot each and every time, they also “fought” or “wrestled” or whatever you would like to call it while he was in the womb, it was quite adorable. :D
mymomdidn’tkillme

I am a woman, so actually that claim is wrong.
mymomdidn’tkillme

I know many pro-lifers adopting children who are adopting or have adopted children in poverty and around the world
mymomdidn’tkillme

I am very pro-life, as pro-life as it gets, and even I believe that some of these methods are way too extreme, but I agree with one or two of them. though, this article is still extremely biased
mymomdidn’tkillme

though, generally a doctor who does abortions only does abortions, and they do it for the good income, and they tell the women lies. but that does not justify killing them. no homicide is justifiable under any circumstance, unless you consider the government death penalty a homicide, and in that case it is only justifiable with a serial killer
mymomdidn’tkillme

seeds have not went through germination(a.k.a fertilization which is when it actually starts to grow and when it actually has all the genetic material to be what it is meant to be) yet. but when sperm enters the egg, it is fertilized and that is when it starts growing and contains all the genetic material to be what is is meant to be and that is what you call a “fetus,” so you cannot compare a seed to a “fetus.” Oh, by the way, these are all the signs that show that something is alive, “fetuses” have all of these things…
1) Cells- All living things are made up up one cells or multiple cells2)Organization- all living things’ cells are arranged to form an organism (the cells aren’t just a jumbled mess)3) Use of Energy- All living things need to use energy to survive4)Homeostasis- All organisms can regulate their internal conditions to stay alive5)Growth- all living things grow6) Reproduction- All living things reproduce(this doesn’t have to mean just making another of that organism and in biology it is taught that is isn’t just meant in that way, it is also meant at the cellular level)

Even #4 is true in a “fetus”, they regulate some on their own and what they can’t regulate by their own yet they keep regulated by sending signals to the mother’s body so the mother’s body can provide what is necassary to regulate.

Anything alive that contains all the genetic coding for that organism IS that organism. So by fact and definition, “fetuses” are human beings. you cannot argue with that
mymomdidn’tkillme

I forgot to mention, that therefore, since the “fetus” is a human being, aborting it IS murder
A girl who loves life

Pardon me, there seems to be a large amount of controversy going on here, so I won’t get involved too much. I would just like to state that, as both a female and a teenager (17), I do not think abortion is right at all. I think it should be illegal. I feel deeply for those who are impregnated by rape, do not have the money to support a baby, or who are not ready to raise a child themselves, but I do not think killing the baby is the solution. We could go on and on about the scientific and technical aspects of the issue, but, for me, what the argument boils down to is this— we love our freedom. We want to be able to chose. But what about the fetus, soon to be a baby? He or she has no choice. No choice to grow. No choice to die. The fetus is totally dependent on the mother, and her decision.

But how do we know if the fetus is “alive” or not? Well (and I realize this dips into the scientific and technical aspects of the issue, but please, just hear me out) for me, it is a simple solution, just for me— if you have a sperm, or an egg, on their own, they will simply remain sperm or egg. If nothing outside happens to change them, they will remain sperm or egg until death. But when the sperm and egg are joined, they become something completely different. They grow, and change into something completely different. If they are fed and allowed to grow, they they become a fetus, and, eventually, the fetus becomes a living person. So I think the fetus should, at least, be considered a potential human being and treated as such.

So, though I think women who are in situations which would call for an abortion should be given the maximum of our love and support, in every way that we can, I still think adoption is a much more preferable alternative to abortion. I think that fetuses, which turn into babies, which turn into grown up human beings with hopes and fears and loves and hates and realities and dreams should have the right to live. And that is all I have to say about that. Thank you for your time.

~a girl who wants life for all

P.S. about the commented on article… Biased? I believe so. True in several of the stated cases? Indeed. I really just wanted everyone to know that not all pro-lifers are men trying to force women to have babies they don’t want to have. Some just think that fetuses are potential human beings and should be given the right to life, same as all human beings. Once again, thank you for your time.
Anonymous

then your willing to adopt the children that are considered unadoptable. or other children that age out of the foster care system without ever being adopted.
Anonymous

well if that is true then why are there children that reach adulthood in foster care without ever being adopted.
Anonymous

Or minority infants, disabled infants, or all other infants and children that are unlikely to ever be adopted.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Prymula/100002817349876 Michael Prymula

No the fetus is NOT a human being in for the first or second trimester, it’s nothing but a mere cell, so abortion is NOT murder! I am SOOOOO tired of that right-wing myth.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Prymula/100002817349876 Michael Prymula

Abortion should NOT be illegal because sometimes like it or not, it IS necessary to save a woman’s life, if a doctors tells them they’re baby will either come out deformed or they’ll most likely die from giving birth, then there’s no sane reason why they should not get an abortion.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Prymula/100002817349876 Michael Prymula

Let me just say that men have absolutely NO right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body.
A girl who loves life

This is of course assuming surgery is not an option, yes? (and I would like to eliminate the “deformed proposition” simply because I do not believe that a baby should be aborted for being deformed).
A girl who loves life

(Though I am open to hearing why you believe deformed babies are okay to abort, unless you are speaking about the mother, in which case I request that you clarify this statement.)
A girl who loves life

Apologies, you did make this clear; I misread your previous statement. I implore your forgiveness regarding this oversight. My question concerning deformed babies still stands, however.
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erinaterra

As a South Dakotan, I can honestly say that I am ashamed of these people… sigh… it isn’t easy being a liberal in a state full of conservatives
http://www.facebook.com/waterpoloplyr557 Matt Wright

if a pregnant woman dies during childbirth, how is that promoting life? you are just swapping one life for another, with the other life having to grow up without a mother. thats fucked up b.